Pre diabetes,carbs, Bs levels

[Kaieam]

Hi All,
Newly diagnosed as pre Diabetic and would like to ask for input on this subject.
Started to check my sugar levels recently as I seriously need to drop some excess weight and I have a Mother and Aunt both with type 2. My questions are these:
Why when I feel so dizzy and off my blood sugar reads 4.0 to 4.2 which supposedly is normal? Yet, I feel at my worst!
Checked levels post prandial after I had eaten scrambled eggs and 2 slices of multigrain malty toast and my levels are 8.6. Is this the toast that has given this reading?
My diagnoses of Pre diabetes was through general bloods as I had been suffering with pains in my hands, hot feet at night, waking nightly to urinate, thirsty and itchy skin along with re current oral thrush to name a few things!! My HBAC1 was 6.1 which I thought was only just borderline yet at times I feel totally rubbish with symtoms even my Mother doesn't have.
Doc just advise to recheck bloods Annually but, my thinking is to keep an eye on my levels for a couple of months and returning to him with my findings.
I have had 2 Operations this last 7 months and take HRT and Anti Anxiety tablets. I am overweight by a stone.
Thank you in advance and sorry for banging on!!!!

 

[Brunneria]

Hi and welcome!

If you are used to running with higher blood glucose, when you drop down to normal levels it can feel like a hypo, but it is actually considered a 'false hypo' (even though it feels very real!) Unless you go under 3.6 mmol/l at which point it really IS a hypo.

Yes, it is probably the toast that sent you above 8.
Probably worth testing just eggs one day, then bread another, then the two together a third day, to make sure. You can try different breads too. Some of us do fine with low carb breads, others don't (I don't ). Don't take a single reading as gospel though. Test each food 3 or 4 times before you make any decisions. Often things like tiredness, stress, time of day, etc can affect our reactions to foods, so you are looking for trends, not individual readings.

If you've been getting thrush and peeing like a fountain at night, it sounds as if you have been spending time with quite high levels (the peeing usually happens if blood glucose goes over 10-11 ish). Maybe your evening meal? But that is a guess. But your hba1c is 6.1 on average, so you've been spending plenty of time below that. Which is good news! You should be able to test your foods, isolate the problem ones and then reduce/eliminate/portion control them to avoid the peaks. That should bring your average down nicely!

Some people find that losing weight can improve their tolerance of carbs - and that might help you.
But your hormone situation may affect things - lots of the people (women) who turn up here have hormone 'stuff' going on. I am one. Unfortunately, we all seem to react differently, because our hormone stuff is often unique to each of us.

Hope that helps a bit!
Please ask anything else.
Hopefully some others will be along soon, because the more of us who answer, the more perspectives you will see.

 

[daddys1]

Hi & Welcome to you to the forum, you have definitely come to the right place for lots of help & advice.

What I will do first is Tag @daisy1 for you who will come along with a long list of very useful information we give to new members, It maybe the morning now though when the info arrives.

Neil

 

[daddys1]

Hi @Kaieam,
Lots of us here eat to our meters, that's testing just before eating and testing at least 2hrs after sometimes even at 1hr, just so we know which foods are affecting us and once we know, we can the eliminate it or change the portion size. We aim for the figures not to move more than 2mmol/L between the first and 1hr reading and coming back down for the 2hr.

Most of us here are on a Low Carbohydrate High Fat (LCHF) Diet, it's the carbs that turn to sugar and that's what needs reducing in the food you eat.

Some on here aim for as low as 50 carbs per day, you HbA1c at 6.1 is not too bad but you will need to controls the carb intake and many aim for the 5% range which bring them closer to non diabetic but all done through diet and weight loss.

Strangely contrary to popular opinion NHS and the like a LCHF diet actually helps you lose the weight as you cut the carbs and replace with fats, it helped my cholesterol.

Neil

 

[Kat100]

Hello, just saying welcome ...you will,find great support here ..kat

 

[Patricia21]

Hello and welcome.

 

[Kaieam]

Thank you so much for the advice. I do think in my instance it very much is the carbs that push me to the higher levels. Unfortunately for me Pasta and rice are my biggest weakness! I have noticed to my dismay that when I have eaten bread, pasta and rice that they do tend to push my levels up. I'm generally normal 4s first thing in the morning which is great but have noticed that my levels start climbing post lunch. The good news is I do love healthy food and now the diet has started I may be able to regain nice normal levels. If it wasn't for you guys on here giving your greatly appreciated advice I would never of known how much the carbs really affect some ( not all ) people's sugar levels.

 

[daisy1]

@Kaieam

Hello and welcome to the forum

Here, in addition to the good advice you have received on here, is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will help.



BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 130,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.